Template:POTD/2013-08-30

Picture of the day

The United States Space Shuttle Discovery had its maiden flight on August 30, 1984. Its final mission was almost twenty-seven years later. Discovery spent a total of almost a year in space. Its missions helped to assemble the International Space Station, and it flew the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit. The shuttle was decommissioned on March 9, 2011. Today Discovery is on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.Photo: NASA; edit: John O'Neill